How Your Homeowners Association Helps Your Community

Although we take lots of things for granted nowadays, the reality is that our homeowners association does have a major role to play in regards to our community. Not only is the Homeowner Association responsible for nurturing the local area, but it also helps repair public items in your area, and it delivers a wide array of other great benefits.

HOAs increase the security and safety of your community

The Homeowners Association is known for enhancing the security and safety for your neighborhood. Sometimes you may receive locked gates, other times you can have private security options and so on. Plus, the HOA might even have a neighborhood watch to ensure that there is no suspicious activity in your area.

Provide Maintenance

Public buildings and landscape areas in your neighborhood also need to be nurtured, but many times your neighbors or even yourself might not have the time for them. Thankfully, the Homeowner Association can help with these small tasks. As a result, you will have a more welcoming, visually stunning community.

Provides a sense of Unity

The Homeowners Association delivers a sense of unity. It allows the neighbors to get closer to one another and it also brings in front a way for the community to be more dynamic, strong and focused. Plus, it easily shares relevant information with all people that live within its borders. You get to be informed about any water/electricity maintenance, extra costs and so on.

Regular Meetings

You can make your voice heard thanks to the Homeowner Association. Yes, there are regular HOA meetings within your community, and this will allow you to state what you think and what solutions can be found. You also get to know the opinion of other neighbors in regards to relevant local topics.

Can Lower Taxes

Maybe one of the most important benefits of being affiliated with the Homeowner Association is that they can help keep taxes lower. They tend to maintain amenities, roads and so on. The local municipality doesn’t need to bother with these types of problems. If you live within the borders of an HOA, you will be able to pay smaller taxes as a whole. 

In conclusion, the Homeowners Association can help your community in multiple ways. It’s always important to try and help the HOA to the best of your capabilities, as you can always access some incredible results this way. Granted, there will be a few challenges along the way, but the experience can be second to none in the end. So, try to stay close to the Homeowner Association and rest assured that you will be more than impressed with the value you can get in the end!

The Value of Our Association Attorney

Like our manager, our community’s legal counsel is one of the most important people, other than volunteers and residents, involved in our association. Not a volunteer, but a paid—and integral—member of our association’s professional team, our attorney is intimately familiar with what is happening in our community. And because community association law is complex and ever changing, our association’s attorney is knowledgeable in a wide variety of practice areas that can affect our association, including:

  

•             Premise liability

•             Construction warranty

•             Directors’ liability

•             Real estate

•             Contracts

•             Architectural and design review

•             Insurance

•             Employment

•             Taxation

•             Environmental law

•             Water regulation

•             Collections and foreclosure

Our attorney doesn’t represent the board, individual board members, individual homeowners, any group of homeowners or the manager; he or she represents only our association. One person on the board has been designated as the contact with our legal counsel.

In addition to acting on our association’s behalf in legal matters, our attorney also advises the board on its responsibilities and obligations. And as board terms expire, our attorney acts as the de facto association historian as well, so that our board can provide continuity in policy-making and operations.

Do Not Delay Recording Liens . . .

From: The Wake Forest Law Review

November 21, 2014

by David Darr

Today, in Kingston at Wakefield Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Castell, an unpublished per curium opinion, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the decisions of the Eastern District of North Carolina and a North Carolina bankruptcy court finding Kim Castell, the debtor, did not have to pay $678.75 to Kingston at Wakefield Homeowners Association (HOA).

Was There a Lien on the Debtor’s House?

The only issue on appeal was whether the bankruptcy court erred in deciding that there was no lien on Castell’s real property making it unsecured debt because the HOA did not follow proper lien procedures.

Filing for Bankruptcy

On June 20, 2012, Castell filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy. At that time, she owned the HOA $678.75 in dues associated with her ownership of real property in Kingston at Wakefield Plantation. This property was subject to the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restriction for Kingston at Wakefield Plantation (Declaration). The HOA claimed that the $678.75 was secured debt by a lien on Castell’s real property, thus not dischargeable in the bankruptcy proceeding. However, the HOA did not follow the statutory procedure of filing this lien with the county. The HOA’s claim was that the Declaration provided that the lien did not have to be filed to be effective, thus forming a valid lien without following the statutory provisions. The bankruptcy court found that there was no lien on Castell’s property. The HOA appealed and the Eastern District of North Carolina affirmed from which the HOA again appealed.

The Statutory Procedure vs. Declaration’s Procedure for Filing a Lien

North Carolina General Statute § 47F-3-116(a) states that a claim of lien must be “filed of record in the office of the clerk of superior court of the county in which the lot is located” and when filed “a claim of lien secures all sums due to the association.” However, it “does not prohibit other actions to recover sums.” In contrast the Declaration, states that unpaid dues shall become a lien on the real property, but also says that notice shall be given and recorded with the county.

No Common Law Procedure for Liens

The HOA argued on appeal that the language in the statute that allows “other actions to recover sums” points to a common law ability of a HOA to place liens on its real property and that the Declaration does not require the HOA to file a lien with the county. The Fourth Circuit disagreed with the HOA on both points. There is no common procedure way to file a lien because the statutory procedure is very specific and extensive and would preempt any common law rights. Secondly, the Fourth Circuit decided that even if there was a common law procedure for liens, the Declaration says to do the exact same thing as the statute. Both the statute and Declaration required filing with the county by their plain language. The HOA did not file with the county so no lien existed.

The Fourth Circuit Affirms

For the reasons stated above, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the decisions of the Eastern District of North Carolina and the bankruptcy court.

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Association Management Group, Inc. (AMG) encourages association to (after reasonable notice) promptly file liens to protect the association's rights, even when the debt is relatively small.